NFL Network suspends analysts over sexual misconduct suit

Marshall Jones - Managing Editor

FILE - At left, in an Oct. 5, 2017, file photo, Marshall Faulk broadcasts from the field after an NFL football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in Tampa, Fla. At center, in a Sept. 9, 2015, file photo, NFL Network's Ike Taylor is interviewed during a media availability on set at the NFL Network studios, in Culver City, California. At right in a Sept. 9, 2015, file photo, NFL Network's Heath Evans is interviewed during a media availability on set at the NFL Network studios, in Culver City, Calif. Hall of Fame player Marshall Faulk and two other NFL Network analysts have been suspended after a former employee alleged sexual misconduct in a lawsuit. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017, identified the three as Faulk, Ike Taylor and Heath Evans. He says they have been "suspended from their duties at NFL Network pending an investigation into these allegations."

Image Credit: (AP Photo/File)

December 12, 2017 - 1:15 PM

NEW YORK - Hall of Fame player Marshall Faulk and two other NFL Network analysts were suspended after a woman who worked as a wardrobe stylist at the network accused them of sexual misconduct in a lawsuit.

The NFL on Tuesday identified the three as Faulk, Ike Taylor and Heath Evans. They have been "suspended from their duties at NFL Network pending an investigation into these allegations," league spokesman Brian McCarthy said.

Jami Cantor described several sexually inappropriate encounters with the three retired players and others who have worked for the NFL Network, according to court documents first reported by Bloomberg.

Former NFL Network executive Eric Weinberger and former NFL Network analysts Donovan McNabb and Eric Davis, both former NFL players, are among those named in the suit.

Cantor worked at the NFL Network for a decade until she was fired in October 2016. In the suit against NFL Enterprises, she alleges age and sex discrimination, sexual harassment that created a hostile work environment, wrongful termination and defamation.

"The supervisors knew about it, the supervisors observed it," Cantor's lawyer, Laura Horton, told The New York Times on Monday. "It was insidious in this particular environment."

Cantor filed an amended complaint Monday to the original suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in October.

Canter said in the suit that Faulk fondled and groped her and asked "deeply personal and invasive questions" about her sex life. Cantor said she received inappropriate and sexually explicit texts from Weinberger, McNabb, Taylor and Evans.

Weinberger is president of the Bill Simmons Media Group. He reportedly has been placed on leave. McNabb and Davis now work as ESPN radio contributors.

"We are investigating, and McNabb and Davis will not appear on our networks as that investigation proceeds," ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said Tuesday.

Faulk starred for the Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams. The running back was the NFL's MVP in 2000 and won a Super Bowl with the Rams in the 2000 game. He retired in 2005.

Taylor spent 12 seasons as a cornerback with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Evans, a fullback, was in the league for 10 seasons, mostly with Seattle, new England and New Orleans.

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